Silent Darkness
by Spacefille
Summary: Something terrible happens to Goku and Vegeta one day while their on their way to spar, something that changes the world as they know it and leaves a certain prince crippled. Now Vegeta must rely on his former nemesis for his basic survival...
1. Default Chapter

**Author's Notes** : This is an idea I've been kicking around for a while. (Yeah, I know, bad me for writing something else while in the middle of a huge epic. Ah well.) ^_^ It will contain Hurt/Comfort, A/U tendencies, extreme oddness and non-permanent damage to main characters. 

**Author's Notes (pt. 2)**: I thought I had come up with a reasonably original idea with this fic. However recently it came to my attention that a ff.net author by the name of solange channonix (userid=222410) wrote a story called "Everything is gone" which starts off nearly the same way as my fic does. *cries* So after much bemoaning the fact that eveything I do, no matter how original I think it is has already been done/will be done, I decided to cope and post my fic anyway. It appears that our fics are decidedly different after the first couple of chapters, so it's all good. :) 

Oh yes, and I write, for the most part, with the English Vegeta. I only recently started watching the subs of Dragonball Z and have come to realise that the Japanese Vegeta AND the Japanese Goku are very different than their English counter parts. That in mind, any OOCness on the character's parts are probably the Japanese versions of the characters creeping in, and their actions in both the sub and the dub combining themselves in my mind. O_o 

**Silent Darkness****  
**Part 1  
~~~

It wasn't often when he had the chance to spar with Vegeta, and Goku relished the opportunity. Especially recently 

It had been over twenty years since he had met and defeated the great prince Vegeta for the first time. The space of years alone had done much to wear the prince into something just a little more palatable. At least he had changed a bit from all those years ago, when their one on one fights had been a matter of life and death and he was sure that Vegeta would have killed him, given the opportunity. Now their sparring sessions, though they were still as intense as all Saiyan fighting should be, had lost the bitter and deadly edge that was usually caused by Vegeta's awesome pride. Instead their sessions were opportunities to safely spar within the acceptable bounds of a near friendship. Not only that, their sparring was something he relished and he was sure, deep down, Vegeta did as well. 

After all, why else would he smirk as he did? 

Well

Granted things still got rough from time to time. Vegeta was occasionally prone to tricking him into turning his back or letting his guard down, at which point he would pound Goku into the ground in a very devious fashion. After Goku had picked himself up again and voiced his complaints, Vegeta would laugh and lecture him on his all too trusting shortfalls. 

Little did Vegeta know that very soon he would have to place his complete trust in the long time hero. That day something truly strange was going to happen before they even had the opportunity to fight. 

The prelude started off innocently enough Goku had shown up at Capsule Corportation, Vegeta and Bulma's home, to collect his son, Goten, for the day. His wife Chi-chi had sent him. Even though his wife had been much more lenient on their second son when it came to studying, she seemed to think that he really should be preparing for his high school entrance exams as opposed to "hanging out" with his boyhood friend Trunks. 

However, as he landed outside of the house with the intention of making his way towards the door, a certain person named Vegeta came out to meet him. Folding his arms across his chest, the shorter Saiyan let out a colourful array of insults at him. 

Goku took no offence. Being called a third class idiot for not saying "hi" was usual for him. In fact, being called a third class idiot for anything was usual for him. He knew that throwing random insults at him was Vegeta's way of telling him that he wanted something. Goku knew exactly what that something was. 

The first blow was casually exchanged. Soon they were both in the air, not far above Capsule Corp. More blows were exchanged before Goku stopped and considered. He knew Chi-Chi had demanded that he retrieve Goten immediately, but he *really* wanted the workout. There was something about sparring that sent his blood humming and could make him happy for days on end. After a moment or so, he decided that he'd go spar instead. After all, he reasoned to himself, Goten probably wouldn't mind the opportunity to "hang out" for a couple more hours. He'd make it short and get the both of them back home before dinner. He couldn't miss that!

He silently accepted the prince's invitation to spar with the slightest inclination of his head. Turning in an eastwardly direction, he motioned for Vegeta to follow him. They would relocate to a more desolate place where they would have no fear of harming any loved ones with a stray energy blast. 

~

They had been in the air for less than a few seconds when something happened to the city behind them. Though Goku hadn't been paying attention because he was flying away from the city, whatever it was it happened fast. So fast in fact, that when everything was done Goku had a hard time figuring out the exact order of the events that followed. 

It also didn't help that it happened when Goku blinked. For the microsecond before he blinked he thought that the clouds in the sky in front of him had changed. It was extremely particular one instant he was looking at a cloud, the next the cloud had doubled. There appeared to be two clouds where there was once one, and one was slightly unaligned with the other. With alarm he glanced at the ground, and saw the same thing a double the over lapping ground slightly out of alignment with the other, just like the clouds. It was like how objects looked like out of eyes that suddenly do not wish to look any longer and defocus to produce a hazed double. That was when he blinked wondering if perhaps the trouble was with his eyes. 

In the instant his eyes had closed, something lit up beyond his lids. The light was so bright that he thought he hadn't blinked at all, but instead turned his gaze to look directly into the sun. Except that it was far brighter then even that, and it startled Goku. He wrenched his eyes back open right away, staring back at the ground. The ground did not look like the ground that he had seen before he blinked. This ground had no color and seemed to be painted in sharp white and stark black. It was still doubled however, but as he watched it jerked rapidly and to his amazement the faint fuzzy over lying double sharpened and finally it was the main image that disappeared. 

This was all very hard for Goku's mind to process. He wasn't used to ground looking different than ground or sky looking different than sky. "Uhh Vegeta?" He questioned out loud, very very confused. Usually when he was confused he could count on Vegeta to tell him, sometimes a bit nastily, exactly what was going on. 

When he received no answer from the littler man, he tried to turn his head to ask him again. Only he found that he could not turn his head. Eyes wide, Goku realised that he was still flying forwards at a tremendous rate and under no power of his own. It was like an invisible hand was at his back and pressing him forwards. And downwards. He suddenly noticed that the ground was nearing at an extremely rapid pace faster than he would be going if he were Super Saiyan. 

For a fleeting instant he wondered if perhaps Vegeta had attacked him from behind. Then he thought no more, as he suddenly had to focus everything he had in trying to free himself from whatever this attack was. He marshalled up a great deal of chi and tried his best to break free of the force. That did absolutely nothing besides maybe cushion his impact from being lethal as he hit the ground hard. He cried out. His battle was far from over with this invisible foe the moment he hit intense pressure seemed to want to continue pressing him into the ground. In desperation he howled and with a great deal of flaring chi, managed to fight his way free. 

He scrambled for the cover of a small rock outcropping, faintly alarmed as he realized that the rock outcropping had been formed by the impact of his body against the earth. He gritted his teeth and used it as a shield, huddling against its inside wall. 

It was as Goku sat against his rock outcropping that he became aware of a deep rumbling noise. It was becoming louder and louder, and it seemed to be increasing ten-fold by the millisecond. Goku clamped his hands over his ears. Even that did nothing to shield out the terrible growing noise. He closed his eyes and screamed... and could not hear himself over the din. The noise got louder still, and Goku realized that it was so loud that nothing he did could shield out or even make a difference against it. His ears hurt. They hurt and they hurt and finally silence descended upon him. Blessed silence. The world, which he hadn't been aware had been spinning until that moment, slowed to a halt. And stopped.

Goku stared at the opposite wall of the crater. It retrieved its color and now it appeared to be just everyday ordinary upturned earth. Cautiously he removed his hands from his ears. There was blood on them. Goku stared down at them uncomprehendingly. He stared for a long time, until he realized that he felt very weak. He could smell blood in his mouth and he felt like he was about to pass out. Even so he still could not process what the blood on his hands had to do with his slowly fading vision. Soon his eyes blurred completely and his head fell towards his lap. 

~

Goku wasn't out cold for very long. He faded back into consciousness, and jerked his head up. He looked about, but he only saw the same overturned earth in front of him that he had seen before he passed out. 

He blinked. He didn't understand what had just happened. His mind replayed his final memories but they just confused him further. 

Though he wouldn't have put it past him, it didn't make any sense that Vegeta had been the one to attack him from behind. The attack had been much too powerful to be caused by Vegeta alone... 

Vegeta! He paused. He centered his thoughts, and reached out with his mind. He "felt" for the small prince, searching for his distinctive chi signature. He was surprised and somewhat troubled by what he found. Vegeta's chi energy was very faint. What little of it he could sense felt--_sick._

A cold thrill of fear touched him. Vegeta must be injured badly, He thought. Whatever had attacked him must have attacked the other as well. 

If Goku had taken the time to feel for his own chi, he would have discovered the same "sick" feeling to it as Vegeta. 

Instead of feeling for himself he felt out beyond Vegeta for the chi energy of his son and Vegeta's son. 

He could not feel the boys at all. 

Goku's innards turned to ice. The raw fear that now coursed through him wasn't a sensation he was used to. He was usually so confident in his abilities that "fear" did not occur to him often, if at all, and it left him shaken. 

Slowly, the trembling warrior stood and made to climb out of the crater, mentally steeling himself for whatever enemy he would find beyond. As he moved he realized that he couldn't hear anything and the silence was awesome in its entirety. It made him even more wary. 

He looked out over the rim of his crater and saw nothing. 

Goku's mouth fell open in absolute shock. Nothing, never, in all the day's of his life had he seen anything like it. He had seen chi blasts that had caused considerable damage, and chi blasts that had taken out whole planets but nothing, _nothing_ that could hold a candle to this. Not to something that was only up to a few minutes previous was "home"... 

He felt nauseous and dizzy for a brief second, then he righted himself and stared. Were there used to be the center of Satan City there was now nothing. Everything was stark, level and grey, leading right up to him. Goku looked behind himself. The level-ness extended for quite a ways behind him. After a while, far behind him gentle slops of hills started up again. In front of him, where the city once lay all he could see that added shape to the landscape were now the occasional very small rock outcroppings. But other than that the only thing that differentiated this landscape from, say, the moons or anything equally as alien was the odd cloud formation that welled up from where the exact center of where the city had existed. The cloud was very thin and went straight up. Goku turned his head up and followed it with his eyes. He could see that it blossomed into a somewhat rounded white fluffy top. 

Goku was puzzled. He couldn't figure out what the cloud had to do with the complete destruction of the city and all of its occupants. All he could guess was there was some sort of enemy far above him in the atmosphere. He frowned and slowly clenched his hands into fists. Whoever it was, they would pay... 

He could feel Vegeta's chi flicker, somewhere off to his right. It brought Goku's attention back down to the ground. The invisible enemy could wait, he thought. He should make sure his friend was okay first. It took a moment for him to realise that one of the blackened lumps against the stark and level ground must be the prince. He ran for it. 

The odd shaped lump *was* Vegeta but he couldn't tell for sure until he was very close. The other Saiyan was lying on his back on the ground. He didn't rise to meet him, or even move as Goku neared him. His chi level was so low that for a fleeting instant Goku thought that he might be dying or nearly dead. An odd sickening feeling welled up inside of him as he gazed down at his sparring partner. He already *looked* dead. Vegeta's eyes were open, adding to the queasy unearthly feeling in the pit of Goku's stomach, and the smaller Saiyan didn't even blink as he stared straight at the sky. He was also bleeding and the blood seeped sluggishly from his ears and mouth. Eyes wide and horrified, Goku knelt beside him and touched his ears. 

Vegeta started violently, proving himself to be very much alive. He turned his head towards the other Saiyan, but his eyes did not focus on him. "Kakarrot," He mouthed at the larger warrior, and then the corner of his mouth curled up into a snarl. Goku smiled at the very familiar Vegeta-like expression. He felt very relieved Vegeta was okay. 

"What?" He replied, his eyes wide and amiable as he smiled. "I can't hear" He stopped. He could not hear himself, let alone Vegeta. 

He rocked back on his heels, shocked speechless. While he reeled from that revelation, Vegeta struggled into a sitting position. The prince snarled out something else, but Goku could not hear him. Not even in the slightest. Goku stared at Vegeta's mouth as it moved soundlessly. 

He was _deaf?!_

"Vegeta!" He snapped. "Vegeta can you hear me? I can't hear you!" 

Speaking out loud confirmed what he already knew. As before he could not hear a word he spoke, and he only knew that he said anything at all by the fact that he could feel his mouth form the words and he put force of breath behind them. 

Goku watched as Vegeta kept on speaking himself, his mouth moving silently. To make matters worse, when Goku spoke he didn't even flinch or show any sign of acknowledging him. Did that mean that Vegeta couldn't hear him either? 

This wasn't good, he thought grimly. He had to get help. Even before he hunted for the bastard who had done this to him and his friends. Bulma and all of Capsule Corp he looked up, directing a mournful gaze on the ground where his friends' home had once resided. It looked like it had been completely obliterated. But maybe Master Roshii would be able to help him or Dende yes that's it! He'd go visit the young guardian of earth and get him to heal him and Vegeta before he faced his enemy.

Vegeta was shaking his head and his mouth moved to indicate that he was saying something, as he gazed off in the direction of the odd mushroom shaped cloud. Frowning, Goku considered for a second, then he did something that he *knew* would irritate the prince. Reaching out, he grasped Vegeta's chin and turned it towards himself. He needed to have Vegeta at least look at him, so that he could convey the "I'm going to go for help" message somehow. 

As he thought, Vegeta found that irritating. He jerked his head out of Goku's grip the moment he touched him, his top lip curled up into another snarl. He snapped something at Goku, something that the other warrior couldn't hear, but could probably guess wasn't very kind. Goku winced slightly yes he knew Vegeta hated being touched, but he needed his attention. 

He shrugged apologetically, and began to speak again. "I'm going to get--" He began, making elaborate motions in a direction other than the center of the non-existent city. 

Vegeta wasn't listening. Obviously. As Goku watched, the other man shook his head slowly. He lifted a gloved hand, pressing it over his eyes. He removed his hand and shut those eyes, then opened them again. He repeated that motion again as Goku stared at him in confusion. 

_What? _

Vegeta's mouth moved again, repeating whatever it was that he said before Goku had the atrocity to touch his jaw. He shut his eyes, and pressed his hand to them one last time. 

Goku realized what was bothering the small prince. It hit him like a ton of bricks. He hoped fervently that he wasn't right, then with a mild amount of trepidation he reached out and waved one of his hands vigorously in front of Vegeta's face. 

Vegeta did nothing he didn't even react. After a moment he moved his head slightly away, staring off into the distance. 

He couldn't see.

~~~


	2. Silent Darkness

**Author's notes (for pt. 2)**: 

1. I just wanted to thank you all for the reviews. I really appreciate them. :) I'm very sorry it takes me so long to update.

2. There seems to be some concern and worry for the characters. For example I know that I alarmed my roommate with the fact that Goku couldn't sense the children at Capsule Corp. in the last part. Also, by the end of this part, I'm sure others will be panicked about the state of the characters as well. I just want to reassure my readers that there is, once again, non-permanent damage to the characters as they exist in the DragonBall Z universe, so never fear! :) I'll make it all right again, I promise. :D 

3. Oh yes, and I think I read a bit too many Nuclear Holocaust/Doomsday novels when I was little. And watched too many movies with that theme. People were really paranoid at being nuked back in the 80's weren't they? Anyway, I'm no scientist, (obviously as I just do this for fun) so I don't know if it's descriptively sound, but I generally wanted to portray the fact that Vegeta and Goku are suffering from acute cases of radiation sickness in this part. Hope it worked!

~~~  
**Part 2  
**Silent Darkness  
~~~

Goku made his next decision based on the fact that he knew he had to get Vegeta to some place to heal him. That some place was Kami's Lookout, high above the earth. They would have to fly to get there of course. For a moment he considered, wondering what he should do to tell Vegeta that he should follow him. He reached out for Vegeta's shoulder, hesitated, then decided against that course of action and retracted his hand. 

Finally after several more moments of consideration an idea occurred to him. If Vegeta could sense his chi there was a chance that he would follow him if he sensed that chi moving away. He decided to fly a couple of feet in the air and test to see if Vegeta got the hint. 

Sure enough, the moment he was in the air and had begun to move away from the injured prince, Vegeta turned his head in his direction. The look on his face, despite the fact that he obviously couldn't see him, was one of focused attention. 

"Come on," Goku encouraged brightly, then shook his head slightly. He still couldn't get over the fact that he couldn't hear himself. 

Slowly Goku lowered himself to the ground again in front of Vegeta. Vegeta "watched" him with a sharp expression of concentration on his face. Goku grinned and took to the air again. He flew a few feet away and waited expectantly. 

Vegeta slowly climbed to his feet. Goku flew a few more feet away and turned, waiting again. He watched as the prince's expression turned from one of thinking to one of understanding. He took to the air in an instant and few towards Goku, and stopped when he neared him. Folding his arms across his chest, the prince sneered at the other. 

Goku smiled and laughed silently, pleased. He was glad that Vegeta had understood! He turned and began to fly away from the center of the ruined city, with Vegeta following him closely behind. 

For not the first time Goku was very glad for Vegeta's intellect and cool headedness inside and outside of the battlefield. He was already disconcerted as it was with the fact that he could not hear... he had a feeling that if he could not see or hear he would be much more... *lost* than Vegeta appeared to be. 

~~~

_Vegeta_

When the ground had doubled and split, Vegeta thought he had been seeing things. He had stared at the odd ground silently for a brief moment or so, then did something that would end up harming him incredibly. Turning his head he looked back at Capsule Corporation and the city behind to see if the city had been suffering the same doubling effect. 

It was, but he only saw it for a second. Then something brighter than anything he had ever "seen" before flashed in front of his face. His eyes burned briefly. He screamed, hands flying up to cover them, but he was too late. He became vaguely aware of the fact that he was flying backwards at a much too rapid a pace and then he hit something, presumably the ground, and his entire world went blank. 

When he came to he was disorientated. He felt sick. It took him a couple of moments to realize that he was lying on his back he could feel the rough bumpy surface of what could only be ground beneath him. 

For a long moment he lay there he felt too weak to move. He wondered exactly how injured he was. He also wondered if it was just very very dark out and his night Saiyan vision still needed time to set in, or if he was truly blinded. He blinked a couple of times, but he still couldn't see anything. He paused and waited, staring at nothing.

Apparently he was more injured than he had previously thought he was appalled that he didn't feel the chi of the other until it had nearly reached him.

Despite the fact that the chi approaching him felt several times stronger than he was presently, the chi was old and familiar. Kakarrot. Vegeta didn't panic as it came closer. Kakarrot wouldn't harm a fly, let alone a downed comrade. If he felt like he had the energy to do so he would have smirked. Thank goodness the blasted man was so predictable. 

No matter how confident he felt he certainly didn't expect what came next. Kakarrot's chi hovered over him and reached out, touching his *ear* of all places. 

He jerked his head away quickly, turning his head towards the other. "Kakarrot," He sneered. What the hell do you think you're doing?' He wanted to add, but found himself faced with something much more troubling. 

When he spoke he couldn't hear himself. 

Okay that was strange. "I can't hear?" He said out loud. He started when once again he could here nothing.

He blinked. He couldn't hear An odd twinge of fear shot through him. He didn't like the feel of it, and he clenched his teeth. There were more important things to think about. What had attacked him? Could Kakarrot hear? Whatever had affected him must have affected Kakarrot as well he couldn't have been more than a few feet in front of him. And he couldn't see either. Even in pitch-blackness a Saiyan could somehow visually sense other presences about them. Granted they would be colourless forms shapes and lumps in the darkness, but they could at least make something out. Now he could see nothing. Could Kakarrot see? 

Apparently he could. The chi beside him shifted slightly and he soon felt a hand on his jaw, turning it gently towards the other. He jerked his jaw out of that hand, growling out his name in silent displeasure. After a moment or so, Goku no longer made an effort to touch him and Vegeta struggled to sit up. 

"I can't see," He reported abruptly to the presence he could still feel beside him. "I can't hear either. Can you..." He paused in his silent dialogue, then shook his head slightly. "Nevermind," he half muttered. "If I can't hear, then there is no point in asking if you can, now is there?" Even though his companion didn't know it, as Vegeta spoke out loud to himself he was varying the tone and pitch of his voice, testing his apparently damaged ears. When he spoke in a high enough pitch a light buzzing sound occurred at the back of his head, but it wasn't enough. Coolly his mind filed that little fact away for future exploration. For now he was by every respect of the word, deaf. 

"I can't hear. And I can't see..." He again noted. He was about turned his attention to his apparently damaged eyesight when a hand once again fell on his jaw and turned his head to the left. 

Kakkarot. Vegeta wrenched his head away, more than a little irritated that he had had to do so twice. "Are you a complete idiot?" He snarled. "Don't touch me!" 

He didn't know yet if Kakarrot could hear him, but at least the stupid man didn't try to do that again. Sighing, he shook his head slightly, and returned his attention to his previous concern. He pressed a gloved hand over his eyes. He removed his hand and felt himself shut his eyes, then slowly opened them again. Nothing. Grimly, he repeated the motion. Still nothing. 

"I can't see at all." He reported impassively. Despite himself he pressed his hand to his eyes in one last ditch attempt to prove himself wrong. It didn't work. 

Damn it. So he was blind. Vegeta filed that under the same category as his hearing. So he couldn't see and he couldn't hear. What else did he have at his disposal? He could still "chi" sense Kakarrot, sitting or crouching a few feet away from him and off to the side. Kakarrot, though he was loath to admit it, *was* an asset. Next Vegeta expanded his senses, searching for the chi signatures of his family... or more precisely those of his son and Kakarrot's son, both who were formidable warriors. He felt alarmed when he could not feel them, neither close by nor far away. Vegeta's mind reeled. With his mouth pressed into a firm line, he stared off into the dark distance as his mind fought to cope with that more recent revelation. They were gone. No matter. He'd find some way to bring them back... and if not he swore he'd avenge them... 

He was snapped out of his ever-darkening thoughts when Kakarrot's chi shifted from beside him. After a moment it rose and moved up and away from him. Even before Vegeta could register that he was being left, the other stopped. And hovered, almost as if he were waiting for something. 

Vegeta turned around to face in his general direction. He frowned. What was Kakarrot doing? What did he want? Obviously he wanted something, or else he wouldn't have stopped... 

Kakarrot landed again. Vegeta was taken aback. What...? To confuse the prince even more, the other moved away again. 

Finally Vegeta understood. Kakarrot wanted him to follow him. Grateful that the idiot had decided against touching him again, as he was prone to do even when he *wasn't* helpless, Vegeta got to his feet. He nearly smirked when he felt Kakarrot move a little bit further away from him, almost as if he were silently encouraging him. He got it all right. Vegeta launched himself into the air and flew forwards towards his former rival. When he decided that he was close enough he stopped and crossed his arms in front of his chest, sneering as he did so. So help him, he wasn't about to be coddled like a week old kitten... he could take care of himself.

His actions seemed to please Kakarrot. The other warrior did not waste another moment before blasting into the air and flying away from the city, and Vegeta was right behind him. 

~~~ 

_Goku _

Goku became more and more alarmed as he flew on. As the hills and countryside fell away beneath him, he noticed that nothing seemed to look familiar. Sure, there were still familiar *looking* hills and trees, but the staple of earth's scenery was different. Not only that, he had yet to see one dinosaur or Pteranodon or sabre-tooth, and the expansive desert that he *knew* existed outside of Satan City was no where to be seen. 

Goku was so stuck at the oddness of the scenery and staring at the ground that he failed to notice that Vegeta was faltering. It was only when he felt his companion's already low chi level drop rapidly, that he turned.

He was just in time to see that the other Saiyan had stopped in mid-air. As he watched, the other shut his eyes and powered down completely, then began to fall towards the ground. 

"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed. His eyes widened when it looked like the other wasn't about to power back up again, and not only that, it looked like he was going to crash into a grove of trees below. He reacted. Pressing his fingers to his forehead, he winked out of existence and reappeared just above ground. He caught the prince an instant later in a large thump of limbs and body weight. Goku surprised himself by stumbling a bit as he landed. Falling to his knees, he placed the unconscious prince on the ground.

"Vegeta?" Worried, he pressed his hand against Vegeta's forehead. The slight prince was cool to the touch, his skin cold and clammy. Goku watched as the unconscious man struggled for breath, frowning when the mere action caused him to gasp and sputter. 

'It must be bad if he can't even breathe...' Goku thought. He reached out with his mind and sensed his chi again, then froze at what he "saw". Vegeta's chi was nearly gone, and what little of it that was left felt sicker than it had been when he first sensed him back at the city. 

He couldn't deny it... Vegeta, he was... dying. This was serious. Goku stared at Vegeta's chest for a long moment as it struggled to draw air, his brows furrowed in thought. Vegeta couldn't fly any longer. He couldn't afford to fly either... he may be too late to save Vegeta if he choose to leave him and go for help solo. So what could he do? 

After a moment hesitation, he reached down, grasping one of Vegeta's arms in his hand. His other hand came up and he pressed two fingers against his forehead. He thought "Kami's Lookout", focusing his mental energy on the palace above the earth. 

For an instant the world faded out as he blinked out of existence. An instant later he blinked back into existence, in exactly same place as he was before. 

What..?! Goku dropped Vegeta's arm and stared at his hands, then looked around himself, utterly confused. Why didn't it work? It didn't make any sense! 

He wondered if his energy was too low to teleport. But then he decided that that didn't make any sense either, because he actually did disappear for a moment... whether he came back to where he started or not was a completely different story. 

Closing his eyes, Goku focused his energy into searching a far greater area than just the near by. It was only then, after a thorough search, that he realised that he could not sense anyone else either. Not Dende, not Popo... not even his eldest son Gohan. He couldn't find Piccolo, or Yamcha, or Master Roshii... each and every fellow warrior he searched for came up blank.

An anguished gasp of breath from the man lying at his feet brought Goku's attention back to him. Vegeta, still unconscious, was shaking and his skin was literally grey. On closer inspection Goku could see the faintest red splotches were appearing on that pale skin, looking much like tiny blisters. Frowning deeper with puzzlement, Goku reached down to touch them, only to startle himself when he saw his hand and arm appeared to have the same little red blotches on them. 

For the first time since the entire confusing ordeal had begun, Goku finally focused his attention inside of him. He was affronted with an extremely grim realisation.

He was very sick. His chi was low and tinted with the same ailment that Vegeta appeared to be suffering from. 

Goku stood, mentally cursing himself for one of the first times in his life. He had been so used to depending on his chi, and in retrospect relying on it to be nearly endless in supply, that he never considered that he could suffer from the same thing as Vegeta was suffering from. Now he saw his folly... if Vegeta was dying, he couldn't possibly be very far behind. 

"I'm sorry I made you fly away from the city," Goku muttered as he crouched beside his fallen friend. If only he had let them stay, instead of making them *both* use their energy, then they may not have been in such a situation as they were at present. 

He watched Vegeta try to breathe for a couple of moments more, then got to his feet swiftly. He thought for a long moment, then decided. It didn't matter if he was sick, and it didn't matter if Kami's Lookout wasn't accessible via instant transmission. At that moment, it was the only option he could think that they had. He had to try to get there by flying. He didn't care if doing that would use up what precious energy he had left. Else wise he didn't think Vegeta was going to make it. 

Setting his jaw, Goku reached down, gathering the slight form in his arms. Then he took to the air again. 

Goku make it a little less than a valley over. He could name the exact moment that he ran out of energy... spots began to cloud his vision and the body in his arms had become an incredible weight. Gritting his teeth he tightened his grip and forced his own body to continue its flight. That worked... for about five seconds. Then a sharp twinge of pain shot through the back of his head and he cried out, at the same time coming very close to falling. Instead he steadied himself in mid-air and hovered there for a moment, breathing heavily. 

He had to land. He had no choice. Whatever it was that he was suffering from wasn't letting him force his body to do anything. He decided quickly that he would find some place to land a settle and hopefully regain his strength before continuing on. He could only hope against apparent fact that Vegeta would make it in the meantime... 

He glanced around below, looking for an adequate place to land. After a moment his eyes fell on a glimmer of blue north of him. Slowly he began to make his way in that direction, half drifting on the winds as he did so to conserve what little he had left inside of him. 

He wasn't disappointed. The hills fell away beneath him to reveal a lightly treed, small valley, which looked to have a small river running though it. It looked like the river, in the distance, flowed into a larger lake. 

Perfect. The river meant water and food. Trees meant shelter and maybe a bit of protection. Smiling happily, Goku started towards it, only to surprise himself. A moment or so before he reached the river, the stars, which had been dancing merrily at the edge of his vision, chose that moment to cloud over his eyes completely. He let out a small exclamation of surprise as he realised that he was falling... rapidly. All he managed to do was roll himself about so that he would land on his back. Then he hit the ground, hard, and blanked out. 

When Goku came to again he was sprawled out on a grassy plain. Swallowing a moan, he sat up, willing his swimming head to grind to a stop. After a moment he could see well enough to look around himself. He was happy to note that he was only a few feet away from the river he had spotted from the sky, but Vegeta... 

Where did he go? Goku had a horrible sinking feeling that he must have dropped the other. The question was where? Then he spotted him. The prince had apparently hit a tree when Goku fell, and he lay in a crumpled heap at the base of one, half covered in a generous collection of leaves and branches. 

Goku climbed to his feet. It took only an instant for him to realise that that was a very bad idea. A sharp pain welled up at the back of his head again, and he fell back to his knees, dry retching. Again stars danced in front of his vision. 

"Sorry, Vegeta..." Goku muttered, wincing. He dry retched once more before darkness over took him and he fell forwards, face first into the dirt. 

~~~

_Several hours later, else where_

"All right, all right, I'm coming already," Bulma Briefs muttered to herself as she picked her way across her extremely messy lab. She had been working all week on a new invention, incidentally a time travel object much like the one her future self had invented, and was VERY close to cracking the mystery of how the Central Processing Unit of such a machine worked. Needless to say she wasn't very happy about the fact that apparently she was the only one in the house who could answer the phone. There were at least four or five other people on the grounds at any given time, why couldn't any of them answer the phone? 

"Hello?" she asked grumpily as she picked up the jangling device. Vegeta would be proud, she thought to herself sourly. 

"WHERE IS HE??!" The voice on the other side of the line demanded to know very loudly. 

Blinking, Bulma held the phone away from her ear at a distance as her mind fought to process who it was who was speaking. It didn't take long. 

"Hello Chi-Chi!" Bulma greeted her friend in a lot more of a pleasant manner. "Which he' are you looking for?" 

~~~


	3. Comfort

**Author's notes (for pt. 3)**: 

Once again, sorry so long on the update. These lovely little things called Midterms decided to sneak up on me, and then took up all of my time, and after that it was finals. O_o So I had to wait until winter break to even think about tapping away at Fan Fiction. Speaking of which, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! :D

~~~  
**Part 3  
**Comfort  
~~~~

Stript, wounded, beaten nigh to death,   
I found him by the highway side.   
I roused his pulse, brought back his breath,  
Revived his spirit, and supplied   
Wine, oil, refreshment--he was healed.  
I had myself a wound concealed,   
But from that hour forgot the smart,   
And peace bound up my broken heart.

- James Montgomery, _A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief_

~~~

_Still elsewhere..._

Goten looked slightly scared as he listened to his mother rant. The phone was held a couple of inches away from his ear, and all three occupants of the room could hear the boy's mother yelling on the other end. After several "uh-huh"s and "okay"s and one or two "but Mom, he never...", Goten hung up the phone. 

"I have to go home," He told his friend Trunks, and Bulma, a rather despondent look on his young face. He ignored the small smirk on Trunks face, who apparently found it amusing that he had been reamed out by his mother, and turned his attention to Bulma. "And she said to send Dad home too..." 

"Son Goku?" Bulma replied, confused. She hadn't seen her old friend all day. Of course she had been in the labs until about ten minutes ago... "Was he here?" She asked. 

"I saw him leave with Dad a few hours ago," Trunks replied nonchalantly. 

Bulma Briefs threw her hands in the air in utter frustration. "That man!" She muttered, resisting the urge to tear at her hair. Saiyans and their fighting... it never changed. She understood Chi-chi's frustration in that regard. Send a man out to do something... sighing, she stopped her mental tirade and nodded. "Well then Goten, I guess you'd better head then." She turned to her son. "Trunks, would you be so kind as to find your father and tell him to let Goku go home?" 

Trunks shrugged. "Sure," the purple haired boy agreed. 

~~~

Goku didn't know how long he was out cold. It could have been hours... it could have been days. He thought it was more likely that it was days... the odd waking dreams he had told him that there was a passage of time involved. 

Actually the waking dreams disturbed him somewhat. He kept on seeing the face of a... man, above him, holding his head level and giving him something liquid to drink. Beyond that the hazed images didn't make much sense. Even the person he remembered taking care of him didn't make sense... he had seemed familiar to him, but no matter how hard Goku thought about it, he couldn't seem to place him. 

When his fever finally broke and he came to, he spent a good couple of minutes re-orientating himself. He was lying in a clearing of some sort. It was slightly dusky out... like the sun was either rising or setting. It took him rolling his head to the side and discovering water in the form of a river only a few feet away from him. His mind began to process his location. He remembered then... the fall, dropping Vegeta...

Vegeta! 

He rolled his head in the other direction, and breathed a sigh of relief. Vegeta lay only a couple of feet away from him, with his head turned towards the other warrior. There was a worried but sleeping look on his face. He was still deathly pale, testament of the fact that they had both been very very sick, but a slight expansion of his senses told him that the prince's chi was low... but stable. 

Mind at rest assured that Vegeta was not in fact dead, Goku made his first attempt to get up. He fell back to the earth with a soft "ah". His muscles weren't going to let him go anywhere. 

After several more minutes of staring at the sky, Goku attempted to move again. This time he did manage to roll on his side and crawl forward an inch. That's about as far as he got... 

When he came too again a bright noon day sun was beaming onto his back. Goku winced, and moved his head... only to have it bump into something. 

Goku raised his head all the way and blinked. He instantly thrust himself backwards a couple of inches, surprised. He had been sleeping with his head pressed up against Vegeta's arm. A confused glance behind him told him that he had dragged himself across the riverbank to his present location. Funny, he didn't remember moving... oh yeah. He *did* remember dragging himself a couple of inches across the ground, but he didn't remember making it all the way to Vegeta before he passed out again. 

"Huh," He began, turning his head back to inspect Vegeta's face. The prince was breathing shallowly, but he was still very much alive. Carefully Goku expanded his senses, and took again yet again that Vegeta's chi was healing. Not only was it healing, he was happy to discover that it was also expanding, slowly but surely. And the sores that had decorated Vegeta's face were healing as well... the scabs were pale and white and nearly ready to fall of.... 

Goku stared at them for a long while, his mind processing that. Scabs ready to fall off... that meant they had been out here for quite a while. Once again, Goku turned over his rapidly fading memories from when he was sick. Someone must have taken care of them... but whom? 

A rumble from his stomach told him that he had more important things to think about right about then. 

It took Goku the rest of the day and part of the night to catch his first fish. By the next morning he finally dragged himself out of the water and laid himself down on the bank, panting heavily. In each of his clenched fists he held a fish. They were extremely small in comparison to the fish he was used to catching, but he was desperate for food and they would do. After much moaning, groaning and aching he managed to make his way up the rocky sand bar and settle down a few feet away from Vegeta. With a small burst of chi and some dry driftwood he created a fire and set about gutting his fish with his bare hands. 

Vegeta came too only a moment or so before he was done. He startled Goku... one moment he was out cold, the next he had sat up with a start. Though he couldn't hear, Goku could still see the movement, and he turned his head to inspect the other. 

Vegeta stared back at him out of unseeing eyes.

Goku watched as confusion crawled across his companion's face. He could practically see the gears in his head moving as they tried to process information through impaired senses. He smiled to himself and "flexed" his chi slightly, making it more noticeable to the mostly helpless prince. At the same time he thought tired but happy thoughts, assuming that if the prince chose to try to sense his thoughts they would only reassure him. 

Apparently it worked. After a moment Vegeta relaxed and then carefully lay back down. He sniffed the air, once twice, and then his eyes closed and he fell back to sleep. 

Goku assumed that the smell of food had awakened the prince. He hesitated, then after eating the first fish, picked up the second and crawled over to him. He placed the food near his head where it could easily be reached. Then he yawned and moved off to find a nearby place to sleep by himself.

His actions marked his routine for the next few days. When he woke up the next morning the small fish he had left Vegeta was gone, eaten by the prince no doubt. Despite the fact that Goku was still incredibly hungry the thought made him smile. After several more minutes of lying on the cold ground and staring at the sky, Goku carefully got to his feet. This time it appeared that his body would let him as much. Grinning widely, Goku stretched and yawned, then moved off. 

It was time to find more food. Food always came first in his mind, but this time food and survival came before finding out anything about anyone else. As soon as he and Vegeta were feeling well enough, he'd continue exploring in attempts to find their missing friends...

~~~ 

_Vegeta _

Encased in his dark little world of no sight and no sound Vegeta found that his thoughts were rapidly turning towards the paranoid side of things. All that he had to rely upon now was his touch and his ability to sense chi -- the latter being something that he relyed upon much too often. He ALWAYS knew where Kakarrot was... and Goku seemed to understand enough to keep himself constantly detectable to the blind prince as way of reassurance. 

On this particular day, Kakarrot had spent a great deal of it several miles away and in various directions. He returned after several hours during what Vegeta assumed was the evening time, and set about doing stuff about a half a kilometer downwind from him. When the faintest smell of roasting meat drifted up to his nose, Vegeta relaxed ever so slightly. 

He sat patiently until he felt Goku approach. After nearing him close enough to touch him, the other's chi paused, then left again. Vegeta waited. After he had spent enough time sulking, he reached out to where the other's chi had been. He smiled ever so slightly as his hand came in contact with rapidly cooling meat. 

Yeah, he hated this. Yeah, he couldn't see or hear and thus couldn't sense much of anything, no matter how many times he tried to explore about the valley they were in. Yeah, so he had to rely on Kakarrot to feed him, of all the humiliating things in the world. However it was still FOOD and he was hungry. He would eat it and endure. 

Three days later he wasn't feeling quite so *generous* about his situation. 

~~~

Vegeta wasn't sure what made him loose it that day. Perhaps it was the fact that, even though he *willed* (and cursed) himself to get better, he was still showing no signs of recovery. He *still* had to rely on Kakarrot for a great deal of his basic needs. And maybe it was because he had felt his power returning to him, slowly but surely, and that made him all the more upset about his weakened state. 

So he brooded and sulked all day. After a while he vented and let off some practice chi blasts around the valley. Of course he had no idea what he had hit. He was blind.

Then he leaned up against a tree, smirking, and awaited Kakarrot's return. 

He still didn't know what he had hit in the valley when Kakarrot showed up finally, but he assumed it was noticable by the fact that he could feel Kakarrot hesitate. Even so, the larger man continued on with his nightly rutine like there was absolutely nothing wrong. He was brought dinner. He felt the other warrior move off, assumiably to put out the fire and clean up. By the time he was done Vegeta was seething. 

He glowered as he felt the other warrior approach him. When a questioning hand finally fell upon his shoulder, Vegeta yanked it away. He began to power up. 

This time the hands landed on him gently but firmly, holding him to place. Vegeta struck out. The moment that his fist met the others face he jumped away, breaking out of that grip with ease. His lip curled. He did not want to be cared for or coddled, nor touched and led back into place. He wanted to fight, to beat something, or to be beaten. At that moment he would do anything to get several days worth of blind frustration out of his system. 

Goku's hands landed on him again, holding him down much more firmly this time. Vegeta let out a scream of pure rage that he couldn't hear (but his throat could definitely feel) he brought his own hands together and blasted at him with all of his might. 

He could feel Goku's chi fly away from him, traveling purely on the momentum from Vegeta's blast. 

For a moment Vegeta wondered if he had caused the other warrior harm, then he realized that he really didn't care. Still feeding off of the brute force of his emotions, he blasted in the general direction of Goku's chi. At that particular moment he didn't care whether he seriously harmed or even killed the man who had become his only connection with anything living over the last few days. All he knew was that his pride demanded that he do this 

It was only when he felt Goku's chi flare up... and then continue to grow that Vegeta felt a streak of real raw fear slice through him. 

Then Goku went accended Super Saiyan, up to the second plateau of power. With the amount of energy Vegeta felt radiating off of the other, it may have even been Super Saiyan three that was standing in front of him. 

Vegeta's mind reeled. He wasn't nearly as strong as the other Saiyan even *with* all of his facilities intact. What if Kakarrot attacked him with all of his power, and he couldn't see to dodge? What if...? 

He instantly banished the thoughts from his mind. He let out a roar of challenge, and blasted off into the air. He would not feel fear. He would not. He was so very good at converting fear into anger that he instead followed that response. 

It was over before he knew it. The first attack from the other Super Saiyan grazed him on one of his arms before he could avoid it. He lashed back, sending a wide barrage of energy attacks in the direction of Kakarrot's chi, hoping that some of them would hit home. Goku was too quick for him. Vegeta moved about as quickly as he could without being able to judge the distance to the ground, shooting everywhere until another high powered attack came at him, this one hitting him square in the chest despite his rapid movements. 

Vegeta dropped like a stone. He was sure that the impact caused quite an impression in the earth... he couldn't see it. All he knew was pain... Kakarrot hadn't held anything back on that last attack. After a moment or so his high tolerance for pain kicked in and pain was replaced by anguish. All the fight left him as he balled his hands into fists and turned over. He lay there on his stomach, clenched his teeth and cursed softly as the tears welled up and threatened to fall. 

Damn it. Damn it anyway. He hated this. He hated the situation he was in. But even more than that he hated the fact that he was crying... in front of Kakarrot. Again. He hated feeling helpless most of all, and Kakarrot made him feel helpless on a fairly consistent basis. It wounded his pride and he had preciously little of that left. 

Oh yes, and he hated pity most of all. Which Kakarrot seemed to radiate a lot of. He could practically *smell* it reeking off of the other Saiyan as his chi drifted down towards him. With in moments Kakarrot had landed and a soft warm hand was laid on his shoulder. Vegeta jerked away from him, and managed to bash his chin into the ground in the process. That made him snarl... and his tears of frustration began to fall. He stilled again, silently sobbing his broken pride into the ground. He HATED this. He just wished... he could die even, if it would take away this horrible feeling. This horrible situation where he couldn't even fight... 

To make him feel even worse, a hand was re-placed on his shoulder. This time Vegeta let it remain there, too miserable to resist. 

He didn't even resist when, moments later, Kakarrot very gently gathered him up. He stiffened slightly as he was held against the other man's gi, until he figured out that the other Saiyan was probably trying to console him. This was the ultimate humiliation. He was being held like a little child and he couldn't even do anything to stop him. It only served to prove him right when Vegeta slammed an ineffective fist against the other's chest. Goku didn't move, except for the fact that Vegeta could feel the other's chest vibrate against his body. He was speaking to him. 

He couldn't hear him. 

Vegeta slowly realised that he didn't care anymore. He just... didn't. He grabbed a handful of Kakarrot's gi into his fist, then brought his face to it, sobbing outright. Damn him. Damn him... 

Goku patted him on the back awkwardly. He kept on saying "that's okay", but it didn't take him very long to realise that saying anything was pointless. Neither one of them could hear his words. 

So Goku decided, after a moment or so more of Vegeta's display, that he'd try to give Vegeta consoling thoughts. If he could. Bringing his head close to the other's he focused his mind solely on the distraught prince. He tried to think of all of the happy thoughts that he could. 

After a few more minutes of tears, Vegeta had cried himself out. Weary and defeated, he did something very out of character for him... he lay still in Goku's arms, quiet and unresisting. He would call up the energy to squirm free and find an unscorched patch of grass on which to spend the night... in a moment. For now... he was so very tired...

His eyes, which he hadn't even been aware had been open until he blinked them, began to grow heavy and weary. He began to relax despite himself, inadvertently nestling closer to Kakarrot and stifling a large yawn. He had used up way too much energy in that foolish attack... energy that he didn't have to spare. 

Even as his wearied eyes drifted closed, he vaguely became aware of the fact that he was under assault. There... there were colors...? In his mind? What the heck... 

He stopped his headlong tumble into the dark oblivion of sleep to consider the strange colors. He definitely could not see... they weren't coming from visual outside sources. But they weren't coming from his mind either. Consisting of solid colors mostly, they sometimes sharpened into a pleasant thought or feeling. It was only when the thought image of sparring, with a child that was definitely not his own, did he realise that they were coming from Goku. 

He tilted his chin towards the other warrior, a questioning look on his unseeing face. All he got in reply was another sharp feeling, this one of complete happiness. An image accompanied it was a strange one indeed... it was of Goku. He was fishing. Naked. And he was enjoying every moment of it. Another warm happy feeling flowed over him.

Vegeta was shocked. He had seen something, finally, after a week of being blind, and that something just had to be of Kakarrot naked. 

Sometimes... that man... he shook his head as another happy image came to mind... this one of eating the generously large fish he had caught. And then more images came to mind, these ones of food... lots and lots of food. 

Kakarrot was very happy at that thought. The pure joy rolling off the other Saiyan was more than Vegeta could take. "Enough!" He barked out, both in his mind and out loud, and thank-fully Kakarrot stilled the images. Soon the only thing that was left in his mind was a thought that merely formed the shape of a question mark. Are you okay?' it seemed to ask. 

Vegeta couldn't seem to bring himself to answer harshly. Fine.' He thought back, a bit wearily. Let me go.' He added, a hint of indignation in his mind voice. 

Kakarrot must have heard him because after a moment the arms loosened from around him. Vegeta purposely extracted himself from the other. An odd sense of concern seemed to follow him. Still too shocked over the fact that his mind had been invaded so completely by the other and the raw weariness from his fight, Vegeta didn't go far. He stumbled a couple feet away, and lay himself down again. He was too tired to care where he slept. Letting out a wearied little sigh, he closed his eyes. 

After a moment or so Goku lay down where he had left him. The large Saiyan was asleep even before he was. He was close enough to Vegeta that Vegeta could practically feel the heat radiating off of the other. He wasn't close enough, however, to creep the injured warrior out. In fact it was oddly comforting, and Vegeta allowed himself to drift off. Though he would never admit it to himself, he felt completely safe for the first time in a very long week. 

~~~ 

_Elsewhere..._

Trunks burst into the lab, which nearly made Bulma drop the tiny remote she was operating on. Blinking, she stared up at her eldest child. "Trunks?" She questioned. She took in the look on his face. "What is it?" She asked, concerned.

"It's father!" Trunks replied, panting and shaking his head. He had flown too far, too fast. After a moment he gulped and continued. "I can't find him mom! Him and Goku..." His eyes widened. "It's like they're not even on the planet any longer. I can't sense them anywhere!"

This time Bulma really did drop the remote in her hands. She ignored it as it skittered across the floor. She stared at her son. "WHAT??" She demanded to know. 

Trunks shook his head again, then gave his mother a pleading look. "It's like they've just... disappeared." 

For a moment mother and son just stared at each other. Then "I'll go get the others!" Trunks announced, flying back out of the door.

~~~


	4. Not Alone

~~~  
**Author's notes (for pt. 4)**:   
Okay, that has to be the most amusing way I've ever been encouraged to write more fic. Quote: "Are you in jail or somthing? Or did you die? If your not dead, would you please update?" *laughs* I'm not in jail, nor am I dead obviously. :) If you want the excuses for this part here they are: I go to University during the week and work on the weekends. I also found a new fandom to write fanfiction in and picked up making AMVs. O_o; Bad me I know. Ah well.   
More Notes : This is where the good ol' science fiction stuff starts coming in... see if you can figure it out what happened. 

~~~   
**Part 4  
**Not Alone  
~~~~

_Vegeta_

He drifted in and out of somewhat disturbing dreams for most of the night. He last dream consisted of something to the effect of watching Goku fish in a small pool of water. Vegeta watched him lazily. It was only when the idiot emerged from the water again, buck naked and grinning from ear to ear that he turned and looked away, letting out a small snort of disgust. 

It was when he turned his face that the flash happened. So bright, it blanked out everything and when it faded away again, he couldn't see. It was dark and not only could he not see, he also could not sense Goku's chi. In his dream state he panicked and turned all about, trying to locate him somewhere... anywhere... even naked and acting like a complete dolt would be preferable to constantly being stuck alone in silent darkness. He could not find him however and he still could not see. After a few more steps he stumbled and fell into water... into what he could only assume was the fishing hole. Suddenly he was suffocating-- *drowning* and he couldn't get to the surface again, no matter how hard he fought....

He came to with a start, sitting straight up and gasping for breath. It took a moment for him to reorientate himself. Yes he was still blind, and yes he didn't have his sense of hearing, but he certainly was not drowning. Not only that he could sense Goku, and though the larger Saiyan was several kilometres away, he was still close enough for Vegeta to 'feel' him. The other's chi was calm. Relaxed. There was no reason for him to be worried.

So why did he still have goose pimples crawling up his arms and the moderately disturbing feeling that he was being watched?

Shivering, Vegeta slowly climbed to his feet. For a moment he wavered slightly. Hands reached out to help steady him. 

Vegeta froze.

The hands weren't his own. The hands weren't Kakarrot's. These hands were slightly cool, and left a slightly charged feeling along his skin, speaking of metal and electric circuits beneath those fingers... 

_Android_. It could only be an Android. 

Vegeta freaked out. 

~~~  
_Goku_

Goku had been fishing in one of the only lakes that he had discovered had fish left alive in it, several miles away at the time. Even underwater and concentrating intently on his prey, he could feel Vegeta's chi flare. 

Confused, Goku stopped concentrating on the fish and rose to the surface. Obviously Vegeta had awaken then. But then what could have caused Vegeta's chi to flare like that? It was a very quick power up, one that was only used when desperate or in the heat of battle... 

He was out of the water, airborne, and racing towards the valley in an instant. As he went he was surprised that he actually felt a wave of pure terror wash over him. It nearly knocked him out of the sky with its intensity. It was only when images began to pop up in his mind, of both android 17 and 18 and he "saw" an very brief image of one of his arms being broken. It was only then that he realised that what he was feeling wasn't coming from him. They were coming from Vegeta.

'Huh,' He thought to himself. 'I must have done something to his mind last night.' He didn't know that he would have been opening a constant thought channel between the two of them by sending Vegeta mind images the night before. "Opps." He added out loud, placing a hand behind his head and grinning sheepishly, even in mid-flight. 

His grin faded as the panic he felt ascended to new heights. He instantly placed a serious look on his face and concentrated on flying faster. 

He wasn't in time to prevent any damage... but he was more than a little surprised at what he did find. His mouth fell open as he began his slow descent into the small valley. Potholes all about the place that weren't from the night before indicated were the prince had rattled off chi blasts in a desperate attempt to keep the android at bay. The android in question was presently standing several feet away from the prince. His arms were folded in front of his chest and his eyebrows were raised in a vague expression of surprise. He had nothing hostile with him, except for what looked like a rifle or a large gun, but that resided harmlessly slung over one shoulder. It didn't look like he had used it...

Vegeta was cowering against a tree. Goku couldn't imagine what could possibly have caused Vegeta to cower... until Vegeta inadvertently told him with his mind. He had been just awaking when the android had touched him. He had just touched his arm, but the cool feel of artificial skin over metal had tipped him off that it was one of the androids. Vegeta had panicked, understandably... apparently he had been in the throes of a bad dream only moments before, and the android was one of the only things he could not sense the chi of. 

Goku landed and began to walk forwards. Vegeta's head turned in his direction and he calmed considerably as he approached. As for the android, 17 turned and raised an eyebrow as he approached. 

"What do you want?" Goku asked him. He shook his head slightly, as he still could not hear his own words... only the very faintest buzz. There was no way he could hear the android. This... this was going to be interesting, he decided grimly. He could only hope that the android was friendly. 17 was always the loose cannon of the two... though he hadn't attacked or interfered with any of the Z warriors since Cell... 

The android cocked his head to the side and considered him for a second. "....?" He asked, but his voice was, of course, silent to Goku. 

Goku shook his head slowly. "I can't hear you." He replied. He gestured to his ears and shook his head again for good measure.

"...?" The android repeated. He sighed when Goku shook his head again and instead pointed over his shoulder very deliberately. He made the motion again, paused and waited for Goku to react. 

Goku got it. "Follow you?" He replied out loud. 

The android nodded. He levitated into the air and flew a couple feet away, then stopped, waiting patiently. 

Goku hesitated for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of following the raven-haired android. On one hand the android could want to take them some place where they would be able to attain medical attention. That would be nice... and it would be especially helpful if Vegeta were able to see and hear again. On the other hand it could be dangerous to follow the android... there was no telling where he'd lead them. 

After a moment of careful consideration Goku decided to follow the android anyway. He was fairly sure he could deal with whatever there was in front of them. He raised himself up in the air as well. He glanced back at Vegeta... then landed again. He paused then took off again flying in the direction of the android. There he stopped again and patiently waited, hoping that Vegeta would get the hint much like he had on the day this had all began. 

Vegeta did get it. The prince raised an eyebrow slightly, then pushed away from the tree, blasting up into the air. After a moment Goku began to fly away from the valley with Vegeta followed him close behind. 

As he followed the android Goku mulled over the android's sudden appearance. He wondered vaguely how long the android had known of their existence. He had thought it was fever sleep, but had he been the one who helped them on the first couple of days? He only had slight memories of a dark haired stranger giving him a hand, nursing him back to health. If so, he wondered why he was helping them anyway? Or was he not, and was merely leading the two Saiyans off to their demise? 

A sudden flash of light off to their side called Goku back to his present surroundings. He stopped, surprised as what looked like weapon's fire came flying at them. Android 17 had stopped as well, holding them back with his hand. He turned his head and shouted something back at them, then shook his head. Goku glanced back at Vegeta only to find that the prince had stopped as well and was waiting obediently. 

Another flash of weapons fire came at them from off to the other side. This one came a little bit closer to home as something very large exploded off to Goku's right, blinding him for a second. He blinked his vision back just in time to see Android 17 yell something and fly backwards. He landed squarely against Goku's chest. Startled Goku caught the android and simultaneously ducked another large projectile object. Not only were they under attack... they were under heavy attack. He turned frantically, only to find that Vegeta had already figured this out and more... having powered up so that a strong shield of chi shimmered around him. His face was closed with concentration as he swung about, relying on senses other than his sight and hearing to locate the movements of the weapons' fire. After a moment he had guessed the approximate location of the weapons' fire based on the angle the projectiles flew at him by. He reached out, and fired, hitting the local of the weapon's fire on the one side dead on. Goku watched a bit gapped mouthed as he turned and did exactly the same thing on the other side. 

Then he turned and smirked in Goku's direction. 'Well?' He seemed to say. 

"Very nice," Goku muttered out loud. He suddenly realised that the android he held was struggling against him. "Oops..." Goku quickly let him go. 

The android flew a few feet away from Goku and quickly brushed himself off. When he turned back around again Goku could see the tears in his shirt where he had been hit, but other than that the android looked none the less worse for wear and appeared to be functioning fine. Goku cocked his head to the side, his face full of curiosity. He wondered why the android hadn't attacked the weapon's station instead of letting his blind and deaf companion do it for him.

"Why didn't you attack them?" Goku asked out loud, gesturing down at the now smoking locations where the weapons had been firing from. 

"....?" The android moved his head to the side as well and questioned him, looking honestly confused. "...." He held up his gun and gestured down below. He then shook his head. "....?" 

Goku had no clue what the android just said. He had forgotten that he was pretty much completely deaf despite the fact that he spoke out loud and couldn't hear himself. He winced and shrugged sheepishly. 

'Will you stop trying to talk to him when it's obvious you can't and let him take us to where ever it is we're going?!' Vegeta's irritated voice echoed through his head. Goku flinched and clenched his skull briefly, turning to stare at the prince with wide eyes. When all he was met was a scowl, he sighed and turned back. Nodding to the android, he gestured at him to continue to lead the way. 

They reached the city after only a little bit more travel, and there was no further incident with attackers. Goku nearly started at the sight in front of him though as the city came fully into his view. It was more a town than a city, and it looked more like a refugee camp than anything else. A small downtown core of buildings was surrounded by ring upon ring of poorly constructed haphazard houses and tents. On the very outskirts of the town lay a last ring; this one looking like it was occupied by soldiers at posts. They gave the three of them very suspicious looks as they flew by, something that troubled Goku very much. 

The android guiding them ignored the soldiers and instead continued flying, above the lines of tents and shambled houses, past the lines of dirty grimy looking people gazing up at them with curiosity and a little bit of foreboding. They continued on, right into the town centre, where the buildings were tall and straight and admittedly a bit different than the buildings in Satan City that Goku was used to. After a moment of hovering, 17 set them down in the middle of what looked like a helicopter landing pad on the top of one of the buildings. He indicated for Goku and Vegeta to follow suit. 

Goku did so, only after a hesitant glance at the guards that stood framing the circular pad. Besides the fact that they looked grumpy and carried weapons, they made no move to intercept the android and his guests. In fact they even stepped aside with slight inclining of their heads as the android walked by towards a set of double doors at the edge of the building. He typed something into a keypad and the doors swung open. He stepped inside them into an elevator-like contraption, and beckoned his companions forwards. 

Goku afforded one quick glance behind himself at Vegeta to find the prince was following close behind him. Satisfied he turned back again, and stepped in the elevator with the android. It was Vegeta's turn to hesitate when he came to the threshold of the doors. Walking inside would put the prince a little bit too close to Kakarrot than he would like. His lip curled slightly. After a moment Goku sighed and reached out. Grasping the prince's wrist he hauled him forwards and brought him into the car with him. The android smiled slightly and jabbed a button on the side of the elevator car. The doors swung closed even as Vegeta turned to snarl something intelligible at Goku. 

Goku smiled back. The elevator jerked and began to descend, which caused Vegeta to stumble ever so slightly. The blind prince allowed himself to be surprised for a whole half a second until he folded his arms across his chest and picked up sulking arrogantly. 

17 caught Goku's eye around the prince's stiff form. He raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk creeping across his face. Goku shrugged in response, grinned and looked away. 

The elevator deposited them several floors down, opening up onto a brightly lit floor all in pristine white. 17 stepped out of the elevator purposefully, leading the way as Goku and Vegeta followed silently. 17 continued down the hall without looking around, but Goku was ever curious and looked about eagerly. His eagerness faded into apprehension as he saw what was in the various doors that lined the halls. The rooms were full of people... some of them covered in bandages, others looking very sick. White clad doctors and nurses administered to them. 

Goku's hand almost unconsciously carried up to press against one of his ears. He was glad they were in a hospital... for Vegeta's sake. However for him... he didn't want to be here. If they were in a hospital of some sort that mean unpleasant things... like needles. He shuddered at the thought. He almost wouldn't mind being deaf forever if he could avoid having to have a needle... 

'We're in a hospital,' was Vegeta's sudden and sharp announcement in Goku's head. It so surprised the taller one that Goku flinched and looked back to give Vegeta a surprised look. 

Vegeta picked up on his look even if he could not see. He sighed and sent him back images from his own head. They consisted of pictures of needles and general antsy alarm. 'I can read you like an open book Kakarrot.' Was the sarcastic tone that accompanied his message. 'You broadcast your thoughts far too easily. ... And often.'

Shame faced, Goku flinched and vowed deliberately started working on hiding his thoughts. 

By that time they had reached the end of the hall and had started down another one. Upon reaching the end of that hall the android and stopped suddenly, then pushed open a closed door. He stepped inside, gesturing that Goku and Vegeta should follow him. 

Goku looked around avidly. This room was large and well lit. Computers lined one wall, flickering dully. A desk surrounded by all kinds of medical looking equipment sat in the middle of the room, and at that desk sat a woman with light brown hair. Her back was turned to them and she was hunched over papers, seemingly enveloped in her work. It was only when Goku caught Android 17's mouth move out of the corner of his eye did she look up. She turned in her chair to face them, a bright smile on her face. 

Goku took a step back and nearly bumped into Vegeta in his shock. Her hair colour was different, but she looked exactly like... 

_'Bulma?!'_

~~~  
_Elsewhere..._

When it was confirmed at Kami's lookout that Goku and Vegeta truly were not on the planet any longer, a quick 'call' to Kaio-sama brought forth even more troubling news...

The two Saiyans appeared to not be anywhere else in the Galaxy either. Neither were they in heaven or hell. By this time everyone had gathered on the lookout, and this news was taken with varying degrees of shock. Chi-Chi went into minor hysterics, shouting obscene words at the deities involved. Bulma and the oldest Son boy Gohan, (who had skipped out of overtime at work when Trunks had called), looked rather shocked. Only Piccolo remained calm, though he was usually the one that remained calm in any given situation. 

It was also Piccolo who picked up giving out orders as well. "When was the last time you saw your father?" He asked Trunks. 

Trunks looked up at the stanch Namek and blinked. "He and Goku were travelling east away from home," He said making a hand gesture in a vaguely eastwardly direction. 

"Good," The Namek replied. "We start there." When he realised that everyone had turned to look at him expectantly, he raised his voice. "We'll search every inch of land in that direction until we figure out what happened to them." 

~~~


End file.
